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Livia · **10-26-2017, 08:23 PM**

I'm new to RPing on XIV and would appreciate some insight into how to approach healing in RP.

How do you play out the differences between having a skilled healer vs. just carrying a few potions with you?

Also, if someone has a severe physical injury, does that typically still require a recovery time, even with a gifted healer?

Thanks!

Syranelle Ironleaf · **10-26-2017, 08:51 PM**

I usually ask the person being healed what they want.Â Some people want a fast, omgmiracle! recovery, others prefer to have some recovery time.Â It's really up to THEM what they want since they're going to be the one roleplaying it out after the healing is done.

I'm sure Sounsyy has a lore compilation for something a bit more lore-driven somewhere and will be along shortly, though, if you prefer something more lore-supported.Â ^_^

Kilieit · **10-26-2017, 08:59 PM**

(10-26-2017, 08:23 PM)Livia Wrote: Also, if someone has a severe physical injury, does that typically still require a recovery time, even with a gifted healer?

Per lore, yes. There's a late HW MSQ example of a character who is essentially walking-wounded but severely enough that she's on the verge of collapse arriving in the base of some of Eorzea's foremost practitioners of healing magic, and despite getting their attention straight away, it's said that she'll still need bedrest to recover from her ordeal. This theme - of characters receiving life-saving magical interventions, but still needing recovery time - continues in the SB MSQ.

HOWEVER -

(10-26-2017, 08:23 PM)Livia Wrote: How do you play out the differences between having a skilled healer vs. just carrying a few potions with you?

I second what Syranelle said. As a healer RPer, you are Dispenser of Plot Devices Extraordinaire. You essentially fine-tune it to what your patient's RPer needs. Sometimes they need to be back on their feet right away so they can continue to participate in an RP event (this is why tournament RP often involves "boop-healing" where a quick boop with a healing stick heals all injuries to full). Sometimes they're wanting to RP out consequences for a decision their character made (for good or ill), so they'll want their character to be told something that fits what they had in mind for the recovery time. Either way, your role is to help them achieve what they want out of the injury subplot.

Sometimes... in fact, often, TBH, this means compromising your mental image of how long an injury should take to recover from. More than once I've had people walk into RP clinics with injuries that are INCOMPATIBLE WITH LIFE, full stop. They should have died when they sustained the injury, instantly, but here they are, walking into your clinic and complaining of mild pain. You just have to roll with it. Your job isn't to question people's OOC medical know-how, it's to give them the plot device they wanted when they decided to contact a healer. Ask the player what it is they're looking for and go from there.

Sounsyy · **10-26-2017, 11:09 PM**

Kilieit and Syranelle both already said as much, but healing in RP can be and is often quite different from healing in the lore. Essentially, as Kilieit put it: RPing a healer is mostly what that person wants for their character and consequences, or what is necessary for the scene/event.

If you're looking for what's in the lore for a healer's capabilities, and what kind of healing is actually out there, I've put together a pretty exhaustive compilation of Eorzea's healing methods, hospitals, and long-term conditions here.

The TL;DR is:

A healer can only do so much, and much of what a healer can do depends on the healer.
Restorative magicks (such as Cure or Physick) mend physical wounds, knit flesh, close cuts.
Spells like Esuna or Leeches cleanse humours, remove ailments, and can treat the root cause of symptoms.
More severe injuries and maladies require long-term, often non-magical, care. A healer can only heal for so long.
Some injuries cannot be healed. Some conditions are terminal. The dead cannot be restored to true life.

Hope this helps! ^^

Nebbs · **10-27-2017, 03:24 AM**

Personally I tend to RP doing the healing, the same way I would do say fighting. I don't say I stab then, only that I do stabbing things and similarly I don't say I heal them, only that I do healing things.

So I do all the faffing, bits of this and that, magical use and so on. I leave the effect of those down to the patients player to define. They can say themselves if it is whoosh-fix, some improvement, fail, adverse effect etc..

This way I get to be a healer and they get to be whatever they want to be.Â

Where I would draw the line is someone wanting my healer to do things beyond their ability. Like restoring a lost limb, if I were to do it then it would be quite an involved thing like a whole quest/story line.

Ryslo Suramlo · **10-31-2017, 09:14 AM**

Playing a Healer Character myself I often opt for the references provided in game on how healing is often performed. Sometime during the MSQ you come across one ofÂ Y'shtola's friends who got injured. This friend had broken bones and such and it took considerable amount of time for them to be healed up before you see her in the story line again. You also see it in the Stormblood story line that healing isn't an 'instant' process. Often times major injuries require attention and require more then a single treatment.Â So I know when I mend someone I always describe it as my character helping the body regenerate its cells and damage tissue. I always emote as if I'm accelerating the process faster then what the body typically would do; but it also allows room for me and the person to RP over multiple sessions rather then a 2 minute fix.Â

Healing in Combat situations I always treat it as giving someone 'Strength' to press through the pain and perhaps provide the wounded area's a means to mend slightly to keep them from going critical. Of course some wounds are to devastating and so sometimes the healing just is done to keep someone up and in the fight until the combat ends and they can collapse usually in worse condition. I don't know, I know the people I rp with like to RP their injuries and to be honest I like to RP the constant care. Like I said this was demonstrated in much of the MSQ. Injuries don't seem to be instantly healed.. least from what I can recall from the MSQ.

Essentially I agree with Nebbs. Leaving it to the player to decide is best.

Edric W. · **10-31-2017, 12:12 PM**

One thing I think should be considered more often is how the healing actually feels. I'd imagine that, while it might be in an extremely talented healer's capabilities to quickly heal a broken bone, it might not be in the patient's best interest. This could just be my personal experience, or maybe I'm just a wimp, but the night after I had surgery, it hurt like hell. Unless healing magic dulls the pain somehow, I imagine a faster healing session would also induce the pain of bone and flesh repairing at a high rate.

That being said, I'm no doctor, and definitely not an expert on relevant lore. I just figured it was an interesting point to bring up, because I know it's how some healers I've known have approached it: "I can heal this fast, but it's going to hurt. A lot." If the choice was stay bedridden for an extra few weeks or go through unbearable pain, it might make more sense for even the top healers in Eorzia to prefer a slower method.

Damien · **10-31-2017, 10:03 PM**

Healing in RP can be a handy storytelling device or a cop-out.

If your character gets wounded or something in a battle or a fight, it can be a bit demeaning for them to have their woes waved away with the flick of a hand like it nothing, since it can basically reduce them to feeling like children who cry over scrapes. This isn't so bad if it really is a scrape, but I think in order for the danger of harm in the world to remain a danger, it can't be something that is always so easily dealt with.

When I did a lot of healing RP I could usually get a gauge of what the player wanted for their character - a quick patch up of some damage so they could go 'back' to their RP, or players who wanted to make RP out of the injury itself; go through a process of healing, recovery and rehabilitation and feel the consequences of it.Â

For the first, I'd just give them what they wanted and play out healing the damage. The second was a bit more fun, getting to tear away clothes or armour to assess the damage, clean out the wound with some disinfectant or whatever was on hand like alcohol. Then mend the necessary damage with magic and leave the rest to heal (my healer would often see to several injuries a day and so had to use their magic conservatively for the important work), apply some bandages and prescribe some painkillers or other medicine or something.

For combat situations I always thought of the heals as a sort of powerful but hastened form of healing - like plugging holes in a leaky boat, it's keeping the thing afloat but not solving the issues fully. As others have said though, it's good to leave it to the player receiving the healing how they want it to go.

Impstatus · **10-31-2017, 10:59 PM**

Think of the drama. What kind of healing yourself and your rp buddy think the scene needs. That's literally the only factor I'd be concerned about.

Recovery Rate with Healing Spells

RPC has moved! These pages have been kept for historical purposes